DFAT Year One: The Curious Contemplations of Chaz

I’ve always love pop culture. From the first time I saw a movie in the theatre watching Masters of the Universe, to my first read of a Spider-Man comic, to my first touch of a Nintendo controller, to the first time I made a movie with my Black & White Fisher-Price Video Camera. All these events shaped me to the geek who writes for you all today. All these events have brought me to share Don’t Forget a Towel with the geekly masses.

When I think back a year ago, on how all this got started, I can pin it to one comment that started me on this path. I had recently seen The Dark Knight rises and had put up a mini-review on my FaceBook page. One of my friends left a comment that she always enjoyed my reviews, and they would lead her to seeing a movie or not. With that comment, I thought to myself, “Why don’t I try this on a larger scale? Why not start a blog and see if I can get these musings seen past my friends list.” With that idea, I called up CynicNerd and told him my idea; and the rest is history.

A year later, it’s not that I thought we wouldn’t be here. In fact, I have mentioned to CynicNerd many times that this blog has become more than US. It will keep going even when we are too tired from our real jobs, or when we are on vacation, or when our significant others want a “date night.” Sorry ladies, but the blog “must go on.” And the reason that it does, is because for all of us writers (and I’m speaking on behalf of the others) but I think we all feel that DFAT is for a higher purpose. It’s an outlet to get thoughts off our chests, and share them in ways we’ve never been able to before.

I’ve always envisioned this blog more than just a “news” site. There’s hundreds of them out there and the news is always the same. What I wanted was that, even if we have to report the “news”, we would pick what interests US and we would give a BIASED opinion on it. If you liked the book you read, say it. If you didn’t like that movie you watched, well say that too. Art is out there to be seen/heard/felt, but it’s different to us all. I don’t want anyone to be stifled by not expressing their opinions, just as the artist shouldn’t be stifled from expressing themselves with their work, in whatever medium they choose.

I’m also very proud of the milestones we’ve hit along the way.

Our very first article!

100 posts!

That time we went to NYCC and met J. Scott Campbell and Guillermo Del Toro!

Adding our amazing writing team!

Mozeus

Doc Palindrome

CheriMonster

Each of the writers for the site I’ve known in different ways. CynicNerd and I grew up together. He is my “brother” and though we may have differing ideas on the DC/Marvel Universes, we’re always be bound together. I met Mozeus in college, and through our film projects, and a short-lived cable-access show; we’ve remained fast friends. The CheriMonster and I have actually never met in person, but we’ve been great pen-pals for almost 10 years now, and she’s the best geek-mom I know. Finally, Doc and I actually work together, and have known each other from the low-budget horror industry for years. As soon as I started telling him about the blog, I knew he’d be a perfect fit together. This is our DFAT family, and I know that we will grow, and I look forward to adding more of you Towelites to our “Rogue’s Gallery”.

As CynicNerd likes to say, Stay Tuned for Year Two!

– More interviews with amazing artists, bloggers, musicians and more!

– DFAT Merchandise, details to come

– We will also be attending NYCC and SDCC! Hopefully we’ll fit in some other conventions along the way!

– More original content to share with our geekly readers

I’m EXTREMELY proud of how far we’ve come, and can’t wait to continue this adventure into the future! We couldn’t do this without you amazing readers, and I couldn’t do this without my amazing writers! Thanks everyone for making this one of the best years of my life!